Affiliate comparisons must “focus on establishing the difference between legal and offshore operators”

Gambling.com Group Chief Executive Charles Gillespie has claimed that many US consumers “still don’t understand the difference” between legal and offshore operators, and advised that “affiliate comparisons need to be simpler” as a result.

The comments were made as the group acquired Bookies.com as part of a transaction which closed in February of this year. The website is being relaunched with a new, US-first focus, with Gillespie noting that its user base “was effectively 100% UK” prior to this.

He explained that he wants the new-look Bookies.com to become a platform for “educating the consumer about which operators are actually legal and which are not”.

“Affiliate comparisons need to be simpler than in the UK and focus on establishing the difference between legal and offshore operators,” he continued. “Many consumers still don’t understand the difference.”

Bookies.com will also offer reviews, bonuses, tips and news on the regulated sports betting industry in the US, providing American sports betting consumers with an authoritative resource for locating and registering with legal, regulated American sports betting websites.

However Gillespie was quick to downplay the role of bonuses, claiming it’s “not a big role”: “Consumers are elated to be trying legal sports betting at all, thus sign up incentives are not as necessary as in more competitive markets.”

The group is aiming to capitalise on the momentum behind the expansion and regulation of sports betting in the US with bookies.com and its other websites. As of the end of November, ten US states had approved legislation to allow for retail sports betting. Of those ten, four have elected to allow for online or mobile sports betting.